Seymour Duncan Hot Rails

[12Pack]

So I decided to take my Lace Sensor Bridge Pickup out of my strat and replace with a SD Hot Rails pick up.

I am pleasantly pleased with the outcome. The installation was easy and their web site had tons of schematics for different set ups.

The sound is much more warm with the double humbucker sound and definately has more gain.

Would I do it again?

Yes - I would. Based on the fact that I am doing covers I can get more of different tones from the Hot Rails then I ever did with 3 SC Pick up. I likes it very much.

[Mark Wein]

I'm not a big Lace Sensor fan. I did have a Hot Rail in my Tokai Strat in the 80's and it did the job pretty well without having to route the guitar. I still have the pickup in another guitar...

[Prages]

I greatly prefer the HSS setup in a Strat. Purists be damned. :o

[Mark Wein]

I greatly prefer the HSS setup in a Strat. Purists be damned. :o

I prefer the sound of a full sized humbucker myself (or a good single coil) but if you don't want to rout a guitar the hot rail is not a bad pickup.

[Help!I'maRock!]

I greatly prefer the HSS setup in a Strat. Purists be damned. :o

its funny, the one strat tone that i really do like is the bridge pup by itself. i'd have to look pretty hard for a bridge humbucker that did a really great split tone. most fall flat.

[Mark Wein]

its funny, the one strat tone that i really do like is the bridge pup by itself. i'd have to look pretty hard for a bridge humbucker that did a really great split tone. most fall flat.


Split Humbuckers never sound good to me, and I think thats partially because I want them to sound like a good strat (or even Tele) bridge pickup, which I figure is an impossibility due to the physics involved...

[Prages]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of split humbuckers either...except I do like the split tones on my PRS.

I think for humbucker to sound good at all when split, it's got to be really hot.

[Help!I'maRock!]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of split humbuckers either...except I do like the split tones on my PRS.

I think for humbucker to sound good at all when split, it's got to be really hot.

there are now more unbalanced humbuckers out there as companies try to figure out the problem without making super hot pups like PRS does. so you get a weak coil and a strong coil instead of two evenly powered coils. when you split it, the strong coil stays on. its an interesting system, i just haven't heard one yet so i can't comment on how authentic they are.

[Prages]

I wonder if the wildly unbalance coils make the pickup less humbucking? It seems like it would.

[Help!I'maRock!]

I wonder if the wildly unbalance coils make the pickup less humbucking? It seems like it would.

i don't think so. because you've still got the reverse polarity. like a dummy coil, but you'd get a tonal change when you split it.

[telecaster911]

I think they are less humbucking. Here's the proof. Put your Edwards LP on both pickups, ie humbucking. Turn one or the other down. The farther you turn it down, the more it hums.

[Duffy]

I have a SD black hot rail in the neck of a strat, a lil 59 in the mid and a JB Jr in the bridge.

The hot rail in the neck is great and the set is fabulous. This strat is really cool and doesn't sound like a regular humbucker guitar but a lot more like a strat. It is a really great strat and a lot of fun to play.

I have a set of Fender Custom Shop Texas Special single coils in another strat that also sound fabulous but they have a way different sound but are really great to play.

I will buy another SD hot rail without hesitation if I have a place I need to put one. I'd say that they sound way better than the gfs counterparts which I have also owned; little killers.

I like the SD hot rail.

Duffy

[Mark Wein]

I have a hot rail that was in my Tokai when I was a kid....At some point I might give it a try in another guitar...I've kind of forgotten what it sounds like at this point...

[MuyLoCo444]

I had the SD Cool Rails pickup in the bridge of my Fender. But just did not like it, so I put in a JB Jr. I briefly considered the Hot Rails, but I was afraid it wouldn't be heavy enough and I had heard the JB before so that seemed like a logical choice. With all my experience with single coil sized buckers, I have to admit they don't have enough in them to compete with full sized humbucking pickups.